Baby's Breath–Everlasting Love; happiness; pure in heart

I typed the words "Parade of Dead" and automatically, my mind just supplied a G note. But, I have a different MCR song in mind for this chapter.

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Winter ended two and a half months later and Spring was just beginning when Marshal started having contractions every now and again. Several false alarms kept everyone on edge.

"Constant Vigilance." Rin joked. Only Bon, Marshal, and Chelsea got the reference.

Finally, another week and a half and Marshal was ready to pop. A contraction came and she dismissed at as a false alarm again, but about half an hour later, another one came. A minute after that, her water broke.

That happened for hours, the time between the contractions slowly getting shorter. At fifteen minutes between each one, Rin got Yukio. He may have looked calm, but that poor kid was freaking out inside. His brother, on the other hand, was actually calm.

Rin put down blankets and Yukio had Marshal lay down on the recliner, putting the legs up so it was easier for her to lay. The maternity dress she was wearing was lifted so Yukio could see what he needed to. Contractions started getting more painful and Yukio monitored her dilation. So far, no complications.

Everyone else went to their places–they'd been planning for this for a while. Shiemi and Shura have been trained by Yukio to help him during the birth. Konekomeru and Izumo prepared the supplies and would check the babies when they were born. Chelsea was there for moral support. Bon, Rin, and Kinzou were on guard duty because the screaming would attract the dead. Shima watched the kids, but they could all fight if they needed to.

Marshal complained about her shit luck in having multiple children in the middle of the Apocalypse when there were no pain meds left. Chelsea held her hand and let her squeeze as hard as she needed to when contractions cane and went. The time between contractions got shorter and shorter until finally, screaming sounded from the house and Rin winced, standing anxiously in his place at the front of the house. They'd already secured the back and sides of the house, so the dead could only come from the street in front of them.

It took maybe an hour and a half before the dead had located the source of the sounds and finally made it to the house. They came in one by one for a blessed couple hours. Then, they came in small groups. Still fine, holding strong.

They started coming in bigger groups and the flow was constant enough that they couldn't afford to take any more breaks to eat and drink.

Finally, decently big crowd came for them and by that point, there were bodies piled up in a line like a barrier. The dead tripped over their own and simply crawled to the house. It was easier to kill them that way, but there were just so many.

Rin, Bon, and Kinzou were getting tired, but they didn't stop fighting.

Hours passed and there was a short break in Marshal's screaming. They wondered if all the babies had been born yet, but half an hour later, the screaming started up again and they all sighed.

Rin was getting shaky. It was still freezing at nighttime and he had used up most of his energy. He was shaking so bad he could barely hold his sword and axe. Bon wasn't much better off and Kinzou was shivering violently.

"Alright. We won't last much longer. It's time to herd the cattle. Bon, go get in the Subaru and blast the horn. Lead them around the cul de sac and out. I'll follow up with the Mazda. Kinzou, you pick them off until they're away from the house. Then you get your brother to bring you some food and water and stand guard on the porch. Got it?" At their nods, they separated.

Bon got into his car and Rin got into his. They laid on the horns and slowly led the crowd of dead away from the house.

The trick of herding the dead was to drive fast enough to stay ahead of the crowd, but slow enough to keep their attention so they didn't stray away. It seemed simple, but there were tons of ways it could go wrong. And with a few new babies, they wouldn't be able to pull it off and leave the kids unguarded unless it was a desperate situation. They didn't have the numbers to spread themselves so thin.

My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade Album blared from the CD player of Rin's car and he'd heard the songs so many times that he'd pretty much memorized the whole CD.

TEENAGERS SCARE

THE LIVIN' SHIT OUTTA ME

THEY COULD CARE LESS

AS LONG AS SOMEONE'LL BLEED

SO DARKEN YOUR CLOTHES

OR STRIKE A VIOLENT POSE

MAYBE THEY'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE, BUT NOT ME!

Rin sang loudly along with the music as he slowly but surely led the parade of zombies to a bridge that had been out when they'd found it. It was a different river than the one they got their drinking and bathing water from.

They got their water from a stream in the forest behind the next neighborhood over. They had a couple axes that they chopped down small trees with and used for firewood and drying racks–for meat and for clothes.

They had made a fire where the TV used to be before they pulled it off the wall. They'd renovated that part of the wall and lined it with bricks they took from the house next door, making a large fire pit.

Rin whistled along to Famous Last Words and slowly turned onto the country road that would lead him and the dead to an old mining quarry. They'd led smaller hordes there before and now it was time to lead the biggest crowd they'd seen in a while there and watched them all drop in while Rin sprinted between pieces of equipment and the deal already in the quarry, then scale the opposite wall and run back around to his car and get the fuck out of there.

Bon let Rin pull ahead of him and hung back to make sure the back of the herd was still following and not wandering off back towards the houses.

It felt like it took forever and Rin even made it back to the very beginning of the CD, but he finally arrived at the quarry. He turned the music off and parked his car off to the side. Then he got out and  blared an air horn at the dead so they followed him.

He creeped closer and closer to the edge until he stepped down onto the rope ladder Chelsea had tied together. It held his weight.

He stepped down a few rungs and blared the horn again. It seemed Bon had found an even better alternative to Rin's plan of speedrunning the quarry through the dead and equipment like a crazy dumbass and a Motorcycle came flying into the quarry, flying for a short while before falling into one of the tractors and making both vehicles explode beautifully.

Rin waited until every single one of the corpses stepped off the edge and dropped down onto the quarry floor far below, effectively smashing a good number of them to bits before a softer landing was created by the piling bodies and the dead slowly just crawled to join the other ambling corpses gathering around the explosion. Some caught fire, but Rin didn't stick around to see it it spread.

He climbed up the ladder and just as he reached the edge of the rocks to pull himself up, one last straggler stumbled over the edge. Rin fell with it down on top of the bodies below and he was splattered in blood and guts and brain matter and other nasty shit.

§~•~§~•~§

Marshal screamed as she pushed, not even trying to hold her cries or tears in anymore. These brats were being fucking difficult and she was tired. She'd gotten two out so far. One to go.

Yukio stayed calm throughout the whole thing and Chelsea held her hand, telling her she was almost done and that she just needed a few more pushed because the kid was being stubborn.

She felt the baby's head crest, it was so close to coming out and she was already feeling the relief of having finally done it without actually birthing the brat yet.

She gave a good, strong push and the baby finally slid out like jello on a spoon.

Yukio caught the baby easily and handed it off to Izumo and Konekomeru, who cleans she baby, did the pat on the back things nd made sure it's airways were clear.

"A boy!" Izumo told them with a grin. She seemed way too happy for a person enduring screaming and babies crying and being covered in the blood and fluids from Marshal's womb.

Marshal sighed in relief, but something wasn't right.

Shouldn't she feel lighter? She definitely did after pushing the three babies out, but there was still a weight inside her, pressing to get out. She dropped her head backs and groaned. She was tired, her body hurt, she'd lost so much blood and she hasn't been able to eat for hours, they had no painkillers either. Why the fuck were there four kids?! She'd love whoever many kids she had, bit God damn, she wasn't superwoman! She didn't even know if she had enough milk to feed all these little twerps! And why on God's green earth was she able to even support these kids after nearly starving all winter?!

She groaned again and pushed of her own accord. She felt loose and tired and worn out and gross. Just one more.

Just one more.

Black impeded on the edge of her vision, but she pushed.

§~•~§~•~§

The pile of corpses squirmed under him, some still surviving the fall and snapping their jaws at him. Rin scrambled off the dead and immediately ran for the shadows cast by the moon overhead facing one side of the cliff.

He stayed as quiet as he could, creeping along the sides of the quarry and trying not to trip.

Go figure he accidentally kicked a small rock and it skittered all the way to hit a Zombie's foot and it turned to him and groaned, shuffling towards him. More took notice and Rin decided to just book it.

Because there was barely any light for him to go by besides the dying flames of the explosion, he tripped and fell several times. He winced, trying to keep the gross zombie gore away from the open cuts on his hands and knees. Who knew what diseases these things carried around inside them?

§~•~§~•~§

Yukio's eyes widened and he quickly got back in position as the last–and smallest–baby crested and slid out within another ten minutes of pushing and screaming.

Izumo and Konekomeru cleaned the kid off and did it heir check up.

"Another boy!" Konekomeru called.

"Great." Marshal didn't have the energy to be excited, she was dead tired. As soon as he legs were let down for the arms of the chair, she passed the fuck out.

§~•~§~•~§

"Rin!" Bon was letting down the rope ladder on the wall not far from him and Rin climbed up one of the old excavation vehicles, ran up the extended arm and vaulted off the shovel end, just barely catching the rope. Bon pulled it up and pulled him up onto the ground.

Bon hugged Rin to him tightly, sitting there on the edge for a minute, just holding him to make sure he was still there. Accidents like that were always terrifying, but they were 1000% more terrifying when they happened to the man he wanted to marry.

Rin pulled back and smiled softly at his boyfriend. "I'm still here. I'll always be here." He whispered, leaning forward and delivering a gentle kiss to Bon's lips.

They got up and went back to their cars, reluctantly separating to drive back to the house.

Bon drive right next to Rin instead of behind him. Rin smiled and skipped through the songs on the CD in his car and then stopped. He played the song just loud enough with the passenger window down so Bon could hear the words.

Now I know

That I can't make you stay

But where's your heart

But where's your heart

Bon grinned at him. Rin knew he liked this particular song. It always reminded him of Rin. They listened silently, enjoying the sudden peace on the country road after getting rid of the horde.

I am not afraid to keep on livin'

I am not afraid to walk this world alone

Honey, if you stay, I'll be forgiven

Nothin' you can say can stop me goin' home

Rin sang along with the chorus, knowing Bon liked to listen to his voice just like Rin liked to listen to his. They enjoyed each other to the fullest extent and could easily dela with each other's flaws and problems.

I see you lyin' next to me

With words I thought I'd never speak

Awake and unafraid

Asleep or dead

Bon liked this song the most. Said it made him think of Rin when he'd been wandering across Japan by himself. He wasn't afraid to keep living and he found his way home–a new home and a new family that loved him as much as he loved them.

I am not afraid to keep on livin'

I am not afraid to walk this world alone

Honey, if you stay, I'll be forgiven

Nothin' you can say can stop me goin' home

They repeated the chorus to the end of the song and just they sang the last note together, they pulled up to the house, where Kinzou was standing guard, but he looked very excited rather than tired like when they'd last seen him.

"How many?!" Rin asked, immediately feeling excitement rush through him. If Kinzou was this happy, that also meant Marshal had survived the birth.

"Four! Two girls, two boys!" Kinzou answered. Izumo came outside and smiled at them, noting Rin's ragged appearance with a raised eyebrow.

"The hell were you doing, dancing with the dead?" She snorted.

"Protecting that banshee in there while she gave us four more brats to watch." Rin shot back playfully. Izumo told Kinzou he was relieved of guard duty and could go inside to see the babies and Marshal. Rin and Bon followed the blonde, both leaving a kiss on Izumo's lips as they passed her.

Marshal was totally passed out, but she'd been cleaned up and the towels soaked in blood and other stuff were currently acting as their fuel for the fire.

Yukio was curled up and asleep on the loveseat. Rin smiled and ran his fingers through the tousled hair, brushing his hand across his twin's cheek fondly.

"Good job, Yukio." He whispered, leaning down to plant a kiss on his brother's temple before standing up again and walking over to Shura and Shiemi, both holding two babies each.

"Did she name them?" Rin asked quietly. Shura nodded, handing one to Rin.

"That one's Marlene. This one's Kendra. Girls." She told him.

"And this is Danny and Daryl. The boys. Daryl is the youngest. The girls came out first. As far as we can tell, they're all identical, so we wrote their names on their clothes." Shiemi said.

Rin smiled down at the baby girl in his arms and passed her to Kinzou. He had his own daughter to check up on before going to pass out on the couch.

Sachi was playing dolls with Tsukumo. Actually, she was making tiny little bundles with wet dirt–it wasn't quite mud.

"What are you makin' there kids?" He asked, already having a clue. Sachi looked up at him and and bolted up, hugging his legs tightly.

"Babies. We're making the babies, Daddy." She answered proudly. Rin smiled.

"Can Barbie Marshal's arms bend at the elbows to hold them?" He wondered. The girl nodded quickly, long black hair whipping around behind her. Sachi was getting older. She was losing baby fat and getting taller. She was looking more and more like Renzou and Kinzou by the day. Rin wasn't ready for it, but he had to be.

She still had baby fat on her delicate little body, her gold eyes still widened in wonder at new things. Rin kissed her on the forehead.

"Goodnight, baby. I'll see you in the morning." He murmured. Sachi hugged him again and went back to making the new babies out of wet dirt.

Rin made his way back into the living room to see Bon already laying across the couch. Rin smiled and laid up against the man, Bon's arm coming to hold him there and keep him from falling off the couch.

Bon always had trouble falling asleep, so Rin hummed quietly.

Cause I see you lyin' next to me

With words I thought I'd never speak

Awake and unafraid

Asleep or dead

I am not afraid to keep on livin'

I am not afraid to walk this world alone

Honey, if you stay, I'll be forgiven

Nothin' you can say can stop me goin' home